Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation

Show Guest: Steve Taylor

Why do some people who experience the worst that life has to offer respond not by breaking down but by shifting up, into a higher-functioning, awakened state? And perhaps more importantly, how can we emulate their transformations?

Over many years of observing and studying the phenomenon of life-changing awakening through extreme suffering, psychologist Steve Taylor coined the term “transformation through turmoil (TTT).” He calls individuals whose struggles lead to a dramatic shift into a new, expansive identity - “shifters”. In his new book, Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation, he shares dozens of amazing stories of individuals who “woke up” to profound transformation following bereavement, deep depression, suicide attempts, addiction, military combat, imprisonment, or other intense encounters with mortality.

“It is tremendously moving to hear accounts from people who have been to the furthest extremes of loss and suffering, who have faced the most desperate and desolate predicaments that human beings can possibly experience,” writes Taylor. Along with the amazing stories of “shifters” he shares throughout the book, Taylor uncovers the psychological processes that help explain these miraculous awakenings. Join us as Taylor highlights a number of lessons and guidelines that offer readers hope and guidance to call on during their own struggles.